NH colleges ranked among nation’s best in US News report

HANOVER — Several of New Hampshire’s private and public colleges have been ranked among the best colleges in the country for 2014 in U.S. News & World Report.

The highest-ranked school in New Hampshire is Dartmouth College, which competes annually with its fellow Ivy League institutions to hold onto a spot among the top 10 national universities. This year, Dartmouth placed 10th overall, keeping up with institutions like Princeton, ranked No. 1, Yale, and Harvard.

.“In the top ten where Dartmouth is it seems that schools only slightly differ in order from year to year,” said Justin Anderson, assistant vice president of media relations for the college. “Overall there’s little movement.”..Anderson said the college is always pleased to be included in the list of best schools, but said the rankings don’t impact curriculum or policy at Dartmouth.

“You can’t get hung up on rankings,” he said...Brad Poznanski, vice president of enrollment management at St. Anselm College in Manchester, said it’s unclear if the rankings help or hurt colleges, but they do help put schools on the map. St. Anselm was ranked No. 120 among the top 180 national liberal arts colleges...“I don’t know if any of us know for sure how the rankings affect schools,” he said, “but we do know it’s national data that attracts attention and can be useful for families in trying to choose schools.”..Kelly Ricaurte, media relations manager at Keene State College, which ranked 87th among the top 135 regional universities in the northern section of the country, said the ranking is “an indicator of success.”..“We’re really pleased to be in the top tier again this year,” said Ricaurte. “We’ve improved over last year and we’re proud of our accomplishments.”

Other New Hampshire schools joined Keene State in the top tier of regional universities in the north, including Plymouth State University at No. 111, and Franklin Pierce University at No. 126...The University of New Hampshire came in at No. 97 out of the top 201 national universities, and Colby-Sawyer College was 20th among the top 47 regional colleges in the north.

New Hampshire colleges and universities that scored below the cut-off point for the best colleges were not included in the rankings, however information about all of the schools is included on the U.S. News & World Report website. For more information visit www.colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges...nfoster@newstote.com ..